1 of 5 | Chapter 15

Initiation

Steersman had been in constant consultation with managers at ASEC headquarters since the attack. At this particular meeting, only the leaders of the organization had been permitted to hear Commander Murinko's report on the establishment of a new defense corps.

Murinko stood up and began his presentation with cold military detachment. “We must take into consideration the five zones that we have delineated in each hemisphere. These zones will each be placed under the control of a separate defensive division, each of commensurate strength. There must be a base established in each zone, where the divisions will be staged. These bases will act as Poles of Enforcement. These poles will allow us to ensure the security of each zone, and fast access to any point within the zone.”

“Yes! The defense system will cover non-populated areas in the same way. This defense system has also been designed to serve as a disaster management agent, acting to protect the environment. Each division will consist of two core parts. One will comprise specialized execution units, and the other composed of specialized service units.”

“What's the difference?”

“The service units are purpose-specific vehicles and robots that will mainly perform transport and logistics, but will also be equipped for rescue operations. In the case of a fire, for example, they will have the capability to transport water to any area.”

“Then the execution units will be armed?”

“Yes, the G-radius cannons will be utilized as relief and deterrent tools and will also be used for threat neutralization. The weapons we used on the thirteenth of November will be more than enough against the current range of weaponry that nations have at their disposal. The key to how effective this will be is in the numbers, superiority of numbers which will be multiplied by good organization and management. G-radius weapons can also be used in two modes: attraction or repulsion. As far as the principle goes, it is an extremely simple one, making it very suitable for our needs.” Murinko broke off for a moment.

“How many units are required to make up one division, and what staffing will be needed?” asked Steersman.

“The two types of units will require two different sets of devices with separate characteristics according to their specialized task. Service units will be larger and made up of fewer assets, whereas executive units will have large numbers of smaller assets in mobile swarms. I estimate that if a swarm consists of eight demon fighters, then each zone can be adequately protected by two thousand such swarms, enough that it will never cross anyone's mind to try anything stupid.”

“Jesus!” said Karen, impressed.

“Quite. In addition, as a demonstration of power, it would be useful to build larger central vessels. One for every forty swarms.”

“Roughly, yes. Only, in reality, one swarm will act on one instruction which means that a swarm will be thought of as one unit, no matter whether it consists of eight hunters or not,” said Murinko.

“And the service units?”

“For the service units, it won't be necessary to show any demonstration of strength, but size matters. Medium and large transport vessels will be equipped as necessary, but a human presence will be required, human commanders supplied either with LRT robots or with soldiers.”

“Machines!” exclaimed Steersman.

“What does LRT stand for?” asked Karen.

“Long reaction targetware. This refers to the long term nature of their operations as opposed to SRT units,” explained Steersman. “Each division will be pre-programmed with fundamental commands to ensure their continual readiness to automatically intervene when necessary. I think it's already clear, though, that an enforcement system on such a global scale can't exist without a surveillance network that mediates communication all over the planet.”

“Satellites?” asked Murinko.

“Yes, partly,” Steersman began to explain, “though satellite probes will only be the points of the network. It'll be the network as a whole that counts, and not a single device; a grid network in space that covers the entire globe. Through a system like this, any subversive or detrimental activity will be manageable, and immediate instructions can be delivered to the appropriate divisions or concerned units.”

“That will mean a huge number of satellites will need to be deployed,” observed Murinko.

“They will be classified as military assets,” said Karen.

“Military communications devices would be a better description, and it's true that they will have their own security system, but only for self protection. They will need to be able to maneuver in space to avoid potential collisions.”

“How far will they be positioned from the Earth?” asked Karen.

“I would say around sixty thousand kilometers from the Earth's surface so that none of the existing satellites are disturbed, but we will need to address the issue of maintaining orbit. For the DCG drives, different rules apply in space,” outlined Steersman.

“They will be covering more than fifty-five billion square kilometers,” said Karen, having done a quick calculation in her head.

“The network grid will be comprised of points, one thousand kilometers apart, which really will mean having a huge number of devices. Reports will be coming directly from the satellite probes into the center via those currently in orbit above ASEC. As I said, the main problem we have is that the DCG units can not maneuver in space, hence we are as yet unable to deploy the satellite probes. The solution is, of course, a new drive that does work in space, and Gibbs has a special team working on it.” Steersman looked over to Gibbs.

“The principle of conventional rockets is to generate propulsion by expelling a reaction mass. The DCG drive units, as we know, work against a gravitational field to generate propulsion, which means that we're not talking about the simple expulsion of a reaction mass. The DCG drive is, therefore, useless in a low gravity environment. It simply loses power. Were it to be hundreds of thousands of kilometers from the Earth, we would need to construct a sphere a quarter the size of the Moon, something that is unrealistic, to say the least,” said Gibbs.

“Can you give us a summary of the solutions you are working on?”

“Yes, of course. Gravity is the most significant formative force in the universe. That we were able to create anti-gravity gives us a number of options. The point is that, in space where there is no resistance, a moving body must be propelled in relation to a fixed environment that is created by us, which means that the drive principle we use in space will remain standard. The difference is that we will accelerate in this environment with some of the new properties of DCG technology we have discovered,” Gibbs finish his succinct summary.

“And where are we with this in practice?” asked Karen.

“We are at quite an advanced stage,” said Gibbs, bringing a smile to many of the faces at the meeting for a moment. “We can't work with the current design, but the principle is correct. First, we need to create a more powerful anti-gravity field with a more powerful drive, and on the other hand, we need a better managed timing mechanism.”